IrregardlessIR is a prefix similar to UN: it reverses or negates what comes after, much like untie means to reverse the tying process. It means NOT, like irresolute means NOT resolute.

The word regardless already means “despite everything.” So if you negate that, do you mean “because of everything”?

(Which, of course, you don't. That isn’t what people mean when they say, irregardless.)

Merriam-Webster takes a stab at guessing why people use this. They say that maybe irregardless is a combination of irrespective and regardless.

Somehow I’m doubting that people who use irregardless even know what irrespective means. Maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt? Mmmm . . . nah.

Jami brought up one of my all-time favorite peeves (if that makes any sense).

NauseousThis is an adjective describing something else that makes you feel sick to your stomach.

Mold could be nauseous.

The smell of vomit could be nauseous.

During my pregnancies, I thought bacon was nauseous.

But *I* was NAUSEATED.

If *I* am nauseous, then I’m personally disgusting and I make other people want to throw up! Not what people generally intend to imply when they say, "I'm so nauseous." (This one makes me giggle.)

This word is so misused that it's losing ground (you remember how language changes, right?). Nauseous is fast becoming acceptable in the sense of how you feel, rather than just describing something else that makes you sick.

Regardless (ha!), I still can't hear it without getting a funny image in my head, and I personally can't get myself to use it that way.

I have never once heard nauseous used in the correct way (that I can remember). I have certainly never used it correctly. I looked it up and there is a short "correct" definition and a huge old "usage note" which basically says what your post about the evolution of language says is happening here.

I say "I'm nauseous" and I'm still totally smart (or, I should say, "extremely smart"). And hardly anyone throws up when they see me.

I'm with you girl. One thing I HATE is supposably. Isn't it supposedly? My problem is that I don't even know if I'm spelling them right. I also hate when someone uses a plural when they should have used a singular. Example: women for one woman. sheesh.

I am always so afraid I will spell defintely wrong that I just use "deff". Which is wrong. Very very wrong. On oh so many levels. I also hate the "irregardless" one b/c it seems so super obvious. And when people write quite when they mean quiet. I should probably stop now. No, I should deff stop now.

Erin--people say "might could"????? For rills? (sorry, I just visited SSB) I have honestly never heard that one. Maybe it's the result of inbreeding.

Heidi--typing quite for quiet is just the sort of thing I do. My fingers sometimes get ahead of themselves and there you have it. I often type my name Mian.

Annette--one that makes me nuts is when people use an adverb where they needed an adjective, just to sound educated. For Example : "I'm feeling poorly." Are you? Then I won't ask you to proof read this Braille.

I never knew the nauseous one before. It's because I was raised hearing it used the wrong way! Yeah...My main pet peeves are your/you're and there/their. It especially drives me crazy when I find it in letters from my kids' teachers.

Irregardless of what Lyon, KristinaP, or Merriam-Webster and their ivory tower associates say, the improper usage is not derived from the confusion of two words, but rather, in the fact that the word itself has a certain aristocratic ring. It possesses an educated aura of the highest breeding. It descends upon the ears of the romance reader as "so 19th century" as to leave to the harlequin imagination the inevitability that even Mr. Darcy, should he be granted breath to address his enraptured fans in gallant English brogue, would include it in his lexicon.

So there you have it. Irregardless is stuffy, uppity, victorian and so multisylabically cool. It can also be found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary of words of higher breeding.

Use it irregardless of what Sister Lyon or her pack of raging word nerd fans say. They are so pied-piperish!

Mr. Darcy would use "regardless" because he wasn't around in the 1900s when the word became part of our dialect in America. If he heard "irregardless" he would think it was a joke. He's from late 1700s/early 1800s England.

And yes, I am personally acquainted with him.

Funny how it doesn't sound more "proper" to me, just like the person doesn't know how to use the correct word.

I'm very word picky too but I still have words I use wrong. Like, I had no idea that saying "I'm nauseous" was incorrect. That's the only term I've ever known for it and I never thought to question it. :)

I love WNW! I even thought of you when I posted last night ... I used figuratively and literally ... and I am hopeful I used them in the correct manner. (I almost said hopefully, but don't we abuse that word all the time, too?)

My pet peeves? Lose vs loose ... this one drives me bonkers. The definitely one also gets to me.

It also makes me cringe when I hear supposebly instead of supposedly or patriarticle instead of patriarchal. People also commonly mispronounce the magazine The Ensign. (In the older editions you could find the following inside the front cover: "The Ensign, preferred pronunciation, N'sign not S'sun.")

But I am not one to talk. I still don't get the whole lie/lay usage. And even at times the whole me vs I in a sentence throws me for a loop ... can you help me on those ones?

Me vs. I- if you can say the sentence with out the other person in it but me is still correct then use me.

Example- You and I went to the store or You and me went to the store. The first one is correct because you would never, ever say "Me went to the store." (unless you are 2 years old- then it is ok). But you would say, "I went to the store."

Or how about- He went with you and me. He went with you and I. Again, the first example because you would not say, "He went with I."

I was amused reading this. I listen to the radio on my commute to work and these talk radio guys had a language expert as a guest and they had people calling in language errors. Very informative just like this post. I think the texting culture (I have teen-agers) will drive you crazy :-) All the intentional mispelling and abbreviations! Total disregard for rules.